Brown Pelican - Pelecanus occidentalis

While watching the Goldeneye and Loon catching crabs at the Doran boat launch (Bodega Bay) an adult Brown Pelican swooped in low over the water and rose a bit to settle on the channel marker to preen.

The black on the back of the neck and the bright red gular pouch represent the adult alternate plumage, i.e. breeding plumage. The bill becomes colorful, with red on sides and tip, an yellow-green on lower mandible. Note the hook at the tip of the bill, an adaption seen in many birds and one that helps with preening. And check out the Paul Newman baby blue eyes.

More preening, and another look at the bill color:

Feather care is important for birds, but the pelicans also have to keep the gular pouch supple, accomplished with a variety of stretching exercises. The view here might be confusing at first. The neck has been retracted to allow the lower mandible to rest on the protruding breast, which bulges into and stretches the fleshy pink floor.

Another view of the stretch, from a few years ago at Richardson Bay, Tiburon shoreline. Note the marked flexibility the lower mandible :

Only 8 species of pelicans in the world, of which 2 are brown and 6 predominately white. Our Brown Pelican has 5 subspecies, with one in the Galapagos Island, one the east coast (green gular patch!), one in the West Indies and Caribbean islands, one in NW South America, and ours on the West Coast, namely Pelecanus occidentalis californicus.